Search - Various Artists :: What's Shakin

What It Is!!!

chris meesey Food Czar | The Colony, TX United States | 04/28/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"For years and years, fans of Eric Clapton have heard of this mysterious collection, entitled What's Shakin', that contained tracks from numerous Elektra Records (and other) artists, but especially contained three tracks from a supergroup known as the Powerhouse, featuring Jack Bruce, Steve Winwood, Paul Jones, and the aforementioned Mr. Clapton. If only we could get ahold of such a collection (we said to ourselves) our musical fantasies would be fulfilled, we would finally get our rocks off, and the heavens would open and reveal the mystery of life to us!!! Great, huh? Well, the fine folks at Collectors Choice Music have done just that for us and reissued this collection on CD, and while even as I speak, the skies have not yet opened, this is still a pretty darn good CD!! The Lovin' Spoonful is also featured and their goodtimey jugband sound is in full evidence, particularly on the fabulous "Good Time Music," a tune which reminds us that the blues is, as with all these artists, at the root of John Sebastian and Co's music. Al Kooper, the Blues Project and Blood, Sweat and Tears founder, NOT the horror-rock guy, weighs in with the delicious "Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes," which sounds exactly as if it were recorded live in a smoky club in the Village. (Sudden thought: Could Al Koopers career and bankroll have been negatively affected just a little by the success of Alice Cooper? Ya think???) Tom Rush contibutes a good version of Fats Dominos "I'm in Love Again" from his Take a Little Walk With Me album. (Fans of Lilian Roxon's old tome Rock Encyclopedia may remember that this album supposedly featured the piano stylings of one Roosevelt Gook, who was rumored to be none other than Bob Dylan.) The Powerhouse's recordings would be frankly disappointing if not for the superb vocals of Steve Winwood (billed here as Steve Angelo). His r and b shouting is in full throttle on "I Want To Know" and makes it the standout track of their set. As for their other tracks, "Crossroads" was, of course, turned into a mega-classic by Cream (the solo on the Powerhouse version was performed by Paul Jones on harmonica, of all things, not Mr. Clapton's guitar), while "Stepping Out" was done much better on the first Blues Breakers album. For my money, the very best tracks on What's Shakin' were performed by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Paul's polished harp playing carries the Little Walter instrumental "Off the Wall," while Mike Bloomfield's stinging leads on "One More Mile" remind us that in the mid-60's, his name was often mentioned in the same breath as Clapton's! OUTASITE!!! Finally, one last word of warning: most of these tracks, except the Butterfield ones, suffer from pretty poor sound quality, about like above-average demos. Still, if you love totally groovy rock, get What's Shakin' right away, and you too, can say with pride, What It IS!!!!"

+ 1/2 stars...Terrific Collection of Rarities and Hard-to-Fi

Steve Vrana | Aurora, NE | 04/14/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"In the Sixties and Seventies, many record labels released sampler albums to promote new releases. However, this 1966 Elektra 14-track sampler (now reissued almost forty years later by Collectors' Choice Music) was something of an anomaly in that many of these songs never appeared on any other Elektra album, including five tracks from the Paul Butterfield Blues Band's first recording session for the label. Two of these tracks-"Off the Wall" and "One More Mile"-never appeared on any another recording in any form.



There are also three Eric Clapton tracks with his band Powerhouse (with Jack Bruce, Steve Winwood and Paul Jones) that were recorded in February of 1966. [Two of these tracks-"Crossroads" and "I Want To Know"-showed up on Winwood's 1995 box set THE FINER THINGS.]



In addition, there is an outtake ("I'm in Love Again") from Tom Rush's album TAKE A LITTLE WALK WITH ME, and a pre-Blues Project version of Al Kooper's "I Can't Keep From Crying Sometimes."



But the most exciting tracks (for me, anyway), are the four tracks that the Lovin' Spoonful recorded for Elektra before signing with Kama-Sutra. The first of these, "Good Time Music," appeared on Rhino's 1990 LOVIN' SPOONFUL ANTHOLOGY, but that album is now out of print. The other three tracks ("Almost Grown," "Don't Bank on It Baby" and "Searchin'") have never appeared anywhere else. That alone makes this release a must for Spoonful fans.



In the mid-Sixties, Elektra was just getting its feet wet with rock `n' roll, and there are enough rarities on this disc to make it one of the more exciting reissues of recent years. RECOMMENDED





"

Full of "missing links"

thensea | New York, New York USA | 09/17/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Wow, they finally released this and with the original cover too!

This is full of great versions of stuff and was highly influential.

I've read that Duane Allman listened to this record and that the Allman Brothers based their versions of some of these songs on the ones here.

The review says Jones is the singer on the Powerhouse stuff, but it was always my understanding that the singer was Winwood.

A personal note, my parents bought this for me in 1966 when I was a 10 year old kid heavily into the Lovin' Spoonful.

The real choice stuff is Butterfield, Kooper and Clapton though.

This sounds as good to me now as it did 40 years ago.

Basically a "primer" for rock inflected blues."